User Reviews

Pours a moderate brown color with a light brown head. The nose is strange but pleasant with notes of pine and citrus rind in addition to some pretty strong whisky notes. The taste is slight whisky and oak, and the hop notes don't fit in there quite as well as they did in the nose. Slightly bit with some alcohol. Nice there. Drinkability goes back down, as this is just a bit strange and I'm not sure I really like it all that much.

Not sure why this beer is considered retired now...seeing as how I had it a few days ago...maybe it was an aged keg of it. A barrel aged IPA, this is one of those things that I would probably say I hate, except I think that the original Gordon is more like a barleywine than an IPA and barrel aging a barleywine is fine, even if the IBUs at that point are used to stave off infection.

Beer is red and hazy with a strongly hoppy aroma (who knew!). Lots of lacing from a rather pathetic head held up with nearly no carbonation. Head is nearly all large white bubbles, looks like dish water approximately but not in a necessarily bad way.

Beer is surprisingly smooth, the liquor character comes through with the malty and alcoholy sweetness at the front of the palate. The bitterness is low and it finishes nicely. This may actually be an improvement on the original Gordons. Too bad its "retired."

From the Tasty Weasel. Sampled a somewhat hazy amber color that is just a touch darker than non barrel aged Gordon. A soft white head with ok retention but did not last through the full tasting. Limited lacing as well.

The nose was a bit funky. The whiskey notes overshadows and hop aroma that you get from the DIPA. Instead of getting a strong piney character, you get a somewhat stale and oxidized note instead. Some cheese and a touch of leather. There was some hop character but really hidden by the whiskey. The malt seemed to come out more as well, with a big caramel note with a touch of toast. Some minor vanilla and noticeable heat/alcohol.

The taste is similar. The whiskey notes really come out, almost overpowering the beer itself. The hops are limited by the whiskey notes. Some minor citrus and pine but this is balanced between the oxidation and heat from the barrel. Some stale and a light butyric notes but more along the lines of old leather. Alcohol is very noticeable with a light hint of vanilla. The caramel/melanoidin is more noticeable with a sweetness that lingers with the heat. The hops are definitely limited by the whiskey. The bitterness is softer and really doesn't balance well. The finishing hops come out stale and leaves a weird after taste.

The body is moderate. But some lingering heat/whiskey leaves it with a more perceived dryness. Overall I was not impressed. The whiskey notes over power the strong hop notes and leaves a stale aftertaste that just didn't match well. Would have liked to see half the barrel whiskey character.

8 ounce serving at the Tasty Weasel back in April, reviewed from notes, usually not a big fan of overly hoppy beers being barrel aged but this one was not bad, color is a dark orange, 1/2 inch thin off white head that does not last long, no lacing at all and limited retention, aroma consists of bourbon, piney hops, lemons, oak, oranges, grass, caramel, and sweet vanilla, flavor starts off with a mix of hops and a sweeter alcohol taste, malt and light bourbon in the middle, finish is full of dryness with hops and oak character, whiskey comes out more as it warms but piney taste is still there, dry, bitter, and earthy mouthfeel, medium bodied, moderate level of carbonation, taste lingers quite a bit, feels full, finished my glass but could not have drank another, stuff is filling with a lot of different tastes going on, thicker than a standard DIPA, similar to the Dale's that was whiskey aged, this was very strong too, , would drink again, worth trying

Taste: Blend of lightly toasted biscuits and candyishly sweet dark caramel. In rolls the rich barrel-derived tastes of vanilla beans, brown sugar, oak wood, and dehydrated coconut flakes. Tiny touch of tannins. Hoppy flavors of resin and citrus, but as was the case with the barrel-aged Dale's Pale Ale, the bitterness, though still present, has been greatly diminished. So the beer finishes fairly sweet and a tad warming.

Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body. Medium-low carbonation.

Drinkability: An interesting iteration that, while it certainly adds more depth to the Gordon, doesn't necessarily outperform the original.

taste is great. initial grapefruit and pine, then whiskey and vanilla. orange, more peel than pulp. biscuit. white bread. bit of cracker. light alcohol. raw oak. bit of fruit. just under medium bitterness level. i was surprised to find that the barrel seems to have mellowed the bitterness out a little, yet the hops still seem very present. i wonder if there was some additional dry hopping or something that went on after it was taken from the barrel. whatever it is, it works.

mouthfeel is good. low carbonation level. silky smooth. medium body.

drinkability is great. the barrel works surprisingly well here. it's often easy for a barrel to clash with the hops, or the aging to cause them to fade entirely, but this beer shows neither. well balanced and dangerously easy drink.

On tap at Coles rare beer fest. I'm going to assume for now we had this Stranahan version.

Pours a light hazed orange/copper, no head forms, no real lacing, but a thin collar of bubbles sit around glass. Smell is real nice, whiskey, caramel, some floral hops, vanilla and oak, sherry, quite fruity, touch of grapefruit, alcohol, very nice. Taste is hoppy at first, floral and grapefruit, light fruitiness, then caramel and whiskey, vanilla, oak, alcohol, well integrated but gracefully separated, nice hoppy bitter finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with medium carbonation, some warmth, pretty awesome. Great example of barrel aging as it complemented the original, and didn't take it over. My favourite of the three barrel aged OB's we had.

Had this on tap at the Brick Store Pub. Not the same beer as the oak aged Gordon- this has quite a bit more up front whiskey in it, and not as good in my opinion of the Stranahan barrel aged Old Chub. The Gordon just doesn't have the body and malt to pull off absorbing all that sharp, clean, powerful Stranahan whiskey taste. Mind you, this is not a bad beer at all, in fact I quite enjoyed it, but it isn't transcendent like some of their other whiskey aged beers. Pours a hazy brownish/orange with an okay head and some nice lacing. Lots and lots of whiskey on the nose, and a slight hoppy aroma on the backend. Lighter and thinner than the Stranahans Old Chub, with lots of clean tasting whiskey up front, and some hoppy citrus and pine fruitiness toward the end. Cleaner, lighter, less creamy, and more tannic than the Stranahans Old Chub. The whiskey flavors pretty much dominate this beer, but there are just enough malt and hops to peek through. If you've ever had Stranahans whiskey, you know that it is particularly clean and not heavy with caramel or oak notes, so this kinda works. A heavier whiskey would have destroyed this beer.